Supreme Court Rules in Support of NIH DEI Grant Recipients…Sort Of
In a complicated decision on the court’s emergency docket, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two separate rulings on court challenges to the Trump Administration’s canceling $780 million in the National Institutes of Health’s diversity, equity, inclusion, health equity, and vaccine hesitancy grants by executive order.
The court ruled five to four that grantees seeking to get their NIH grant funding restored had filed their claim in the wrong court and needed to file motion in the court of federal claims, rather than the federal district court, if they wanted to have their grant funding restored. Based on this decision, researchers with canceled grants will not immediately get their grant funding restored but can now proceed to the court of federal claims to petition for the restoration of grant funding.
In a separate five to four ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed that the federal district court was the correct venue to challenge the underlying Trump policy of cancelling NIH grants and the Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that the Trump administration policy of cancelling NIH funding for DEI grants was likely illegal.
The Supreme Court emergency decision is not the end of the legal process. The lower courts will continue to hear the case and issue final rulings; however, the Supreme Court emergency docket decision sends a strong signal from the court that it is highly likely (but not guaranteed) that at least five justices believe the Trump policy of cancelling DEI grants is illegal and will not survive court scrutiny.
In summary, grantees will have to go back to court to get their funding but will likely get their funding restored eventually. Further, it appears that once the federal district court process is completed, the Trump policy of canceling NIH DEI grants will be struck down by the lower courts, which will likely be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ATS will continue to monitor this case as it moves through the court system.
PUBLIC HEALTH
ATS Joins Amicus Supporting Legal Challenge to Trump Administration HHS Restructuring/Retrenchment
The ATS joined several leading medical and health groups in filing an amicus brief in support of New York and other state’s challenge to the Trump effort to reorganize the Department of Health and Human Services, including the firing of thousands of federal employees and the elimination of standing federal programs. In the case NY et al v Kennedy, several states have filed a challenge in federal court claiming that President Trump’s restructure actions, including the wholesale elimination of Congressionally mandated federal programs or staff reductions that make it impossible for federal programs to function, violate federal law. As part of the restructuring effort, the Trump administration has already fired hundreds of HHS employees and decimated key health programs like the Center of Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and its Office of Smoking and Health. The administration has stated it intends to make further restructuring moves at the NIH – including the elimination or consolidation of several institutes.
While the court action brought by the state of New York and others challenges restructuring activities across all HHS agencies, the amicus brief submitted by the ATS focused on how tobacco control programs – required by federal law – are no longer able to operate due to restructuring actions. Specifically, how the elimination of the CDC’s Office of Smoking and Health effectively ended federally-mandated tobacco prevention programs, and how staff reductions at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products prevented the FDA from fulfilling its legal obligations regarding tobacco control.
While the case has not yet been decided, the judge has already issued a preliminary injunction preventing the administration from implementing HHS restructuring efforts.
The following organizations joined ATS in filing an amicus brief: the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, American Medical Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Parents Against Vaping e-Cigarettes, Rhode Island Medical Society, and Truth Initiative.
RESEARCH
ATS Joins Letter Commenting on the Golden Standard of Science
The ATS joined more than 90 scientific and professional organizations in a letter to White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios, regarding the Trump administration’s Gold Standard of Science policy. The letter notes, “(t)he gold standard for science exists, and its success is demonstrated in every facet of American life—from the development of life-saving vaccines and the journey to the moon to the technological revolution that powers our modern economy. It's built on established norms and values that have, for centuries, guided the global scientific enterprise. We urge policymakers to recognize that any efforts to strengthen scientific integrity must build upon, rather than undermine, these foundational pillars… by supporting and upholding the integrity of our existing scientific ecosystem, we can collectively ensure that federally-funded science remains a vital and trusted resource for informing policy, fostering innovation, and addressing the nation's most pressing challenges.”
CLEAN AIR & CLIMATE
ATS Testifies at EPA Public Hearing on GHG Endangerment Finding
This week, ATS staff presented comments on behalf of the ATS at the EPA’s virtual public hearing on revoking the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Endangerment (GHG) finding and the EPA’s vehicle tailpipe emissions standard for GHGs. The Trump administration has issued a proposed rule to revoke the current EPA GHG Endangerment finding decisions – an administrative action taken in 2009 that gave the agency the authority and obligation to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases. The GHG Endangerment finding is the legal and regulatory basis that the EPA has used to take subsequent action to regulate GHG emissions, including reducing methane for coal, oil and natural gas extraction, vehicle tailpipe emissions standards and GHG emissions from power plants. If the EPA is successful in revoking the endangerment finding, the agency will lose the authority to regulate any GHG emissions.
Most comments presented at the EPA’s virtual public hearing opposed the rollback. The ATS comments noted that the “action proposed by the EPA ignores the preponderance of scientific evidence. The findings of the Department of Energy Report on Climate Change – upon which the EPA bases its action – are based on faulty and incomplete consideration of the scientific record. For these reasons and more, the ATS opposes the EPA’s proposed rollback of GHG endangerment finding and vehicle tailpipe emissions standard.”